comparative study of production performance and animal health practices in organic and conventional dairy systems

• Published in: Tropical animal health and production Vol. 46; no. 7; pp. 1287 - 1295
• Main Authors: Silva, Jenevaldo B, Fagundes, Gisele M, Soares, João P.G, Fonseca, Adivaldo H, Muir, James P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer-Verlag 01.10.2014; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abortion, Veterinary - epidemiology; adults; animal health; Animals; anthelmintics; Antiparasitic agents; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Brazil - epidemiology; calves; Cattle; coccidiosis; Comparative studies; Dairies; dairy herds; Dairying - economics; Dairying - methods; disease prevalence; Ectoparasites; Environmental impact; feed intake; Female; flocks; Goats; Growth - physiology; Incidence; lambs; Life Sciences; management systems; mastitis; Mastitis - epidemiology; Mastitis - veterinary; Milk - statistics & numerical data; Milk production; mortality; Nutritive value; oocytes; Oocytes - cytology; Organic Agriculture - economics; Organic Agriculture - methods; parasite load; Parasite resistance; Parasitic Diseases, Animal - epidemiology; Parasitism; Pasture; pastures; Pregnancy; Prevalence; Production management; Regular Articles; Risk factors; Sheep; Veterinary Medicine/Veterinary Science; Zoology; Brazil; Brazil; Sheep; Goat; Cattle; Sustainability; Milk production
• ISSN: 0049-4747; 1573-7438
• DOI: 10.1007/s11250-014-0642-1

Health and production management strategies influence environmental impacts of dairies. The objective of this paper was to measure risk factors on health and production parameters on six organic and conventional bovine, caprine, and ovine dairy herds in southeastern Brazil over six consecutive years (2006–2011). The organic operations had lower milk production per animal (P ≤ 0.05), lower calf mortality (P ≤ 0.05), less incidence of mastitis (P ≤ 0.05), fewer rates of spontaneous abortions (P ≤ 0.05), and reduced ectoparasite loads (P ≤ 0.05) compared to conventional herds and flocks. Organic herds, however, had greater prevalence of internal parasitism (P ≤ 0.05) than conventional herds. In all management systems, calves, kids, and lambs had greater oocyte counts than adults. However, calves in the organic group showed lower prevalence of coccidiosis. In addition, animals in the organic system exhibited lower parasitic resistance to anthelmintics. Herd genetic potential, nutritive value of forage, feed intake, and pasture parasite loads, however, may have influenced productive and health parameters. Thus, although conventional herds showed greater milk production and less disease prevalence, future research might quantify the potential implications of these unreported factors.